The TTC is discontinuing service along one streetcar route and splitting another into two new routes.
The 514 Cherry streetcar, which travelled along King Street from Dufferin Gate loop to Distillery District loop, has been taken out of service as of today.
In its place, the TTC is splitting the 504 King streetcar into new branches. The 504A King streetcar will travel from Dundas West Station to the Distillery District loop and the 504B King streetcar will travel from Broadview Station to the Dufferin Gate loop.
“We have gotten rid of the 514 in name only, the service to the Dufferin loop and the Distillery loop continues with the 504 A and B,” TTC Spokesperson Stuart Green told CP24. “Over the summer we had to do some rerouting for construction and we found that changing the routing and doing these shorter routes actually improved the reliability. You will now have in the morning rush hour a streetcar every three minutes or while still servicing all the areas served by the old 504 and the old 514.”
In a press release, the TTC said that the change will reduce the need to shorten streetcars as “a delay on one end of either branch is far less likely to affect service throughout the entire route.”
The TTC also said that the move will provide more clarity to riders, as all streetcars travelling along King will have the same number associated with them.
About 80,000 riders use the 504 King streetcar every weekday. That’s up from an estimated 72,000 daily riders when a pilot project prioritizing the movement of streetcars along the busy corridors began last November.
The TTC says that during the morning rush hour, there were will be 22 new streetcars assigned to the 504A route and 20 assigned to the 504B route.
The time to travel along the full route during the morning rush will be about 108 minutes on the 504A and 98 minutes on the 504B, the TTC says.
